Someone said it’s been all doom and gloom here, so I took a picture of Steve this afternoon while I was working on some stuff:
That’s a pretty handsome damned cat.
I’ve been kind of mad at myself for a few days about the way I treated a woman at the airport. Well, I’m mad at myself, but if I replay it in my head, I never come up with a scenario in which I don’t react the same way. At any rate, I was dropping my sister off at the airport in Pittsburgh. For departing flights, all the airlines are all in a row, and Annie was flying Delta, which was for some reason or another the first one as you arrive. I pulled up behind a car that was currently unloading, and was half in the road, and half behind her, but the right side of my car was right up next to one of those concrete dividers, so Annie could not get out.
So I waited for a minute, then another minute, and then finally this 60 y/o or so woman got out of the car, her passenger got out, and they slowly unloaded, chatted some more, and finally, he walked of and she got in her driver seat. This too about five minutes. I was kind of proud of myself, actually, that I hadn’t already blown a gasket, because I was unable to back up and go to another spot because of oncoming traffic. I was at this woman’s mercy. Finally, she got in, took a while, put her seat belt on. Then she put on her hazards and just sat there.
I gave a polite honk. I waited. I gave another polite honk. I waited. I gave a full on honk. Still she sat there. Finally, I got out of the car to see if something was wrong, she saw me approaching, and turned her head to avoid eye contact. I knocked on the window, and said “are you” and se cut me off and said “I’m fine.” That’s when I lost it and yelled “I don’t give a shit how you are lady I just want you to move your god damned car so I can get in.”
She then grudgingly move forward two feet. It was enough to pull forward to open the passenger door and get Annie out, so I unloaded her, got in my car, and flipped the old lady off as I drove away.
That’s where I am now. I know I shouldn’t have lost my temper and yelled at some old woman, but at the same time, I can’t think of going through that situation and having me react in a different way. People are just so damned oblivious to what is going on around them, and then when they do notice, they still don’t give a shit.
Why? Maybe she was waiting for her passenger, but I watched him get his luggage checked and walk in. Even then, she should have done what everyone else does since 9/11, which is drive to the airport gas station and wait for them to call.
Oh, and it goes without saying she was in a Mercedes.
Emerald
Now THAT’s what I needed tonight! This blog needs moar Steve!
That is one fine figure of a cat, right there.
How about a Steve story? Haven’t heard much about him lately. Thanks!
SiubhanDuinne
Steve!! What a great face.
You might want to rethink the juxtaposition of 60 y/o or so woman and old lady / some old woman.
I’m glad neither of you had a gun. If ever there were a reason to learn to keep one’s temper in check, it would be the fear/assumption that the other person might be carrying.
Now, back to STEVE!!!
Mike in NC
Maine Coons are beautiful. We have two Ragdolls who are hungry 24/7.
eemom
I’d have done the same, and possibly worse. So what if she was old? Old people can be assholes. And assholes deserve to be sworn at.
Suzanne
You couldn’t have just asked her to pull forward without swearing at her? Jesus.
Pet the pretty kitty. He’s lovely. Petting CATZ = the natural tranquilizer
Paul W.
I endorse both the handsomeness of this here Maine coon and also the fact that that woman was being an asshole.
Mingobat f/k/a Karen in GA
Steve is indeed handsome.
And maybe I’m horrible, but I don’t blame you at all for what you did at the airport. She got back the same rudeness she was showing you.
redshirt
@Suzanne: Unless you’re allergic. My sister just got a cat and it seems awesome but to touch it is to sneeze for hours and hours. The cat knows this I think.
KS in MA
Fabulous pic of Steve!
But … A 60/yo or so woman at the airport, an “old woman”? Well, excuuuuse me!!! You’ll know when you get there yourself ….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zANvYB93u2g
Steeplejack
That Steve is a magnificent bastard beast.
Hard to fault you on the airport thing, Cole. Nowadays everybody—even matrons in Mercedes—should know that airports are stop, drop and roll. At Dulles and National they have cops stationed at both drop-off and pickup to move you along with a quickness if you aren’t actively tossing people or luggage in or out of a car. You need to wait? Go to the cell-phone parking lot or just keep orbiting the “airport return.” And if you are going to buck the odds and sit there, you should be hyper-aware of the situation and take steps to blend in.
Flipping her off might have been gilding the lily, though.
Mike J
I would have guessed BMW.
John Cole
@Suzanne: I tried to. Reading is fundamental.
Gin & Tonic
@eemom: 60’s not “old.”
Ruckus
John
You know I like being polite and I usually have time, and my time is no longer generally as valuable as it used to be, but there are limits. Why should her gender get her a pass for being an ass? And yes I hold the door open for people and wait for others and I’ll give my place in line (sometimes) to an older woman (or man) but the world has gotten more crowded and we all have to give some to make it work. I have no qualms about letting someone know they have passed the limit line, otherwise they just keep doing it. They may of course anyway because they feel privileged, or don’t give a shit about anyone else but without any other way to get the idea across whata ya gunna do?
Suzanne
@John Cole: And then you lost your shit and swore at her, which is admittedly pretty funny, but you skipped the step where you ask her politely, “Hey, could you pull forward three feet? Thanks.”
MomSense
Steve is so handsome.
John Cole
@Suzanne: She cut me off. I was trying to ask her that and she snapped at me.
ThresherK (GPad)
Last Mercedes-Benz I wanted to do something to was parked on the wheelchair ramp to an 18 th-century restaurant. As was the custom, it was built with horses in mind, not people with mobility issues. This idiot blocked the only way out for my nonagenarian MiL, and she wasn’t the only person in a chair or.using a walker that afternoon for Easter dinner.
I had to roll her over a decently-packed lawn. I refrained from writing something on the M-B’s windshield with a lip balm.
Exactly how many black whiskers does Steve have mixed in? I always liked that “pincushion” effetc where,white whiskers go into dark spots on the muzzle.
redshirt
@John Cole: One hopes your nuts were contained by whatever cargo shorts you were wearing when you flipped off the old lady for inconveniencing you?
Howard Beale IV
‘Tis a shame what happened to PIT-being blackmailed by USAir and half of it been shutdown. I used to connect out of there back in the early 90s when I couldn’t get my normal non-stop to DTW.
Suzanne
@John Cole: Yes, and you snapped back en harder. You’re the one saying that you can’t see any other way for that to have ended. Whatever, it’s not like she didn’t deserve it, but you didn’t have to rise to that level, either.
Randy P
@SiubhanDuinne:
@Gin & Tonic:
Hah! Exactly the point I checked in to make.
Having added my agreement to these statements, let me add that I am 58, but I’ve become that old guy holding up the line to count change out of a change purse. I try to dump it quickly into my palm and make the transaction as fast as possible, but still…
I still wear the waist of my pants around my waist though. And no onions on my belt.
Ruckus
@Steeplejack:
Everybody should know a lot of things but many seem to lack the sense to understand that everyone gets to live in the world, not just the privileged.
Of course it’s like a college (and that’s a long, long time ago) professor said, “If common sense was so common, wouldn’t more people have some?”
ruemara
Sorry, but she was incredibly rude. Until very selfish people have a negative consequence, they just don’t give a hoot about someone else. My town is full of that type and polite doesn’t cut it.
ThresherK (GPad)
@ThresherK (GPad): Autocorrect really likes “27th” for “with”, oddly. Edit isn’t working on Android mobile.
Randy P
@Cole:
At PHL they have a special “cell phone lot” for this purpose, as many airports now do.
And still people park illegally along the shoulder of the ramp from the highway to the terminal.
Adam L Silverman
I’m pretty sure that in Florida she would have been within her rights to stand her ground. Or her mercedes would have been.
Ruckus
@Suzanne:
but you didn’t have to rise to that level, either
Of course not, but really, do you expect that from more that a very small percentage of the human race? From John’s story it sounded like he gave her every chance to be less the douchebag but she refused. You can only turn the other cheek so far. What I’m really asking is, should everyone be a push over and just accept being shit upon? And from a comment you answered very reasonably, I believe last night, I’d bet the answer is NO. You didn’t do that at your job, because you shouldn’t have to.
Ruckus
@efgoldman:
I think it’s even easier when you get old. Not that I don’t try not to be one, but it is easier.
Now get the FUCK off my lawn.
wmd
Steve is planning to kill you. He is a fine looking cat though.
Ruckus
@wmd:
Steve is planning to kill you.
I understood that that was the
not sosecret code of all cats.Roger Moore
I’m playing around with (and enjoying) my brand spanking new 4K monitor. The higher resolution takes some getting used to- I’ve had to update all my font settings so things are readably large- but the colors are way better than the old monitor.
Schlemazel
I just spent time in Chicago & they are the most horn honking city I have ever been in! Honestly, always ready to honk for a thousand different reasons. The other thing I found weird was that pedestrians actually wait for the walk sign. I don’t remember being in a big city in the last decade where that was routine.
You did OK John, she deserved it earlier than you gave it to her. People are so inconsiderate, the world revolves around them & they need to be reminded it does not and other people are in this world with them,
redshirt
@Roger Moore: Don’t forget to use F.Lux! It’s a requirement I hear.
Suzanne
@Ruckus: There’s a range of reasonable responses. John certainly wasn’t unreasonable, but nor was he de-escalating. Whatever. I know I am more mouthy by nature, and I can see reacting similarly. Mr. Suzanne is better at the social graces, and in that situation, he would have said something along the lines of, “Please move forward so other people can get in behind you” in that tone of voice that indicates that you aren’t really asking.
No, I don’t believe that we should turn the other cheek. But I’m what Carly Fiorina would refer to as “a B-word”.
Betty Cracker
People are such inconsiderate shitheads. One thing that drives me nuts is when people block the whole goddamn aisle at the grocery store with their carts. A person who is aware that there are other people on the planet shouldn’t act that way.
redshirt
@Betty Cracker: A majority of people don’t seem to be aware of that though. Americans at least. Do they deserve to be treated rudely because of it? Is it intended the rudeness will “teach” them and suddenly their eyes will open to a whole world of individuals?
eemom
@Suzanne:
Jayzus Kroost, do you ALWAYS have to come off like a fucking 5th grade hall monitor? Get over yourself, just for once.
[cue reminder that I said Chris Christie was fat 5 years ago coming in 3…2…1….]
Suzanne
@Betty Cracker: I refuse to go to Costco when it’s busy, because people act like such fucking assholes, and the giant-ass Costco carts just make it worse.
Remembering the time a lady in her seventies ran over my foot with a loaded Costco cart and then didn’t ask if I was okay or apologize. Mr. Suzanne chased after her and did the stern talking-to thing (no swearing, though—I told y’all he has self-control) and she still didn’t apologize.
JaneE
60 is not old enough get by with being inconsiderate. One of my car poolers is 84, has a handicapped placard, and makes a point of leaving enough room for another car to park, because the lot we use doesn’t have lines, but it has two handicapped signs so we assume it means two handicapped spaces. It may have something to do with being a nice, decent person to begin with.
Suzanne
@eemom: Go fuck yourself, you bitter old crone.
NotMax
Just because she was being an ass doesn’t require you to be one too.
Gave up losing my temper quite some time ago. Aggravation isn’t worth the time and energy it gobbles up.
eemom
@Suzanne:
Back atcha my pretty, and your little dog too.
Suzanne
@eemom: You know, I wouldn’t remember the horrible shit you say if you didn’t keep saying it. But thanks for the reminder of what kind of person you are.
SiubhanDuinne
@Betty Cracker:
My pet peeve is people who step off the escalator and then JUST STAND THERE, never mind that there are people behind them on a fucking MOVING STAIRCASE.
‘Scuse me for getting shouty, but I’ve seen this happen many times. It’s scary and dangerous.
Planetpundit
I can state categorically as of my last anniversary of my birth in December 1955 60 is NOT old!
PurpleGirl
Steve is a fine looking cat. Thanks for the picture.
redshirt
*Pops popcorn*
eemom
@Suzanne:
You’re even cuter with steam coming out of your perky little ears.
Roger Moore
@redshirt:
No thank you. The first thing I did when it was properly warmed up was to calibrate it, and I’m not going to let some program mess with the color balance on my monitor. Besides, I’ve never had problems with the light from my monitor disrupting my sleep.
Suzanne
@eemom: Thanks, dearie. Bless your heart.
workworkwork
That picture of Steve makes me miss our Maine Coon kitty. We got him at the shelter as a kitten. They called him “Sweetie” but we looked at how his hair stuck out all all angles and decided to call him “Scruffie”.
Grew to be 24 pounds of sweet fluffiness, with a squeaky little kitten-like ‘mew’. He got regular visits to the groomers for a bath, haircut and nail trim. It took two people to work on him and as soon as his patience ran out (sometime around the drying and brushing) he would start chasing both of them around the table.
Adam L Silverman
@SiubhanDuinne: My favorite is when the elevator doors open and they peer out with this surprised look on their face as if they had pushed the button for Aruba or Disney World or Paris, not the fifth floor.
redshirt
So, people who live in a good size city: Do you have an awareness that people should walk to the right, just like driving?
JordanRules
You really couldn’t imagine acting differently? Like really?
Mercy if you had melanin….
eemom
@efgoldman:
Good work. If you’d said “CATFIGHT”, you’d be here all night explaining why you’re not a patriarch-ist.
Seanly
You’re only causing yourself pain by worrying about that Mercedes-driving asshat. You were much nicer than I would’ve been about it. I would’ve also done her the favor of reporting her to the bored cop at the end of the line.
Temporarily Max McGee (Soon Enough to Be Andy K Again)
She was about 60? Jesus, man, that’s only half way through the Baby Boom. You’ve got decades of this sort of situation in front of you. Don’t spend your angry energy too soon.
Satby
@John Cole: I think you behaved admirably. And I’m a 60 year old woman, and I would have sworn at her way worse. Because she was being an asshole, and she knew it and didn’t care. So screw her.
Temporarily Max McGee (Soon Enough to Be Andy K Again)
@efgoldman:
He’s a few years younger than me. Our generation is kicking the bucket more quickly, or so I’ve read. I’d rather go down stroking out while calling out some self-obsessed jackass than the way I’m going out now. ;)
seaboogie
@Mike J:
Nope – Mercedes seem to be driven in significant numbers by entitled “wives-of” (doctors, lawyers, etc.) who have achieved their position in life vicariously, and their vehicle is another bauble in their collection. It is the choice of the “Don’t you know who my husband is?” crowd.
BMW drivers are usually people who actually know how to drive (because they are fun to drive), and are sometimes assholes, but usually in an agro driving manner.
Volvos are typically driven slowly by safety-minded folks who don’t know what that big engine can really do…prolly an NPR totebag in the back seat. As a friend of mine says, they are a “self-selecting” crowd.
I drive a Honda Civic – usually too fast – but well, and considerately except for when I tail-gate. When I’m stuck behind a Volvo as I am late for work, I really try to remind myself that “at least I won’t get a speeding ticket!”.
Satby
And just for laughs, my exchange daughter Qunoot is worried that she’s starting to look too old, because at the advanced age of 16 (two weeks ago) people have been mistaking her for a doddering old wreck of 18.
They’re amazed that I’m able to sit up and take nourishment.
kc
If you can quit drinking, surely you can quit losing your shit in public.
Nice cat, though …
kc
@redshirt:
LOL! For real.
SoupCatcher
@SiubhanDuinne:
My favorite are on the other end of the spectrum: people who rush the elevator doors as soon as they open and prevent egress. I can’t remember if it was the commentariat of this blog, or another one, that decided there needed to be a German word for that. The result was turblitzen.
eta Google tells me it was another blog: Defective Yeti.
seaboogie
@efgoldman: So true on the BMW front, I think. Sorry to hear that the Volvo crowd might be becoming Nice Polite Rebublicans who become less polite in their SUVs. Sorry, but not surprised. Prolly don’t get their precious progeny vaccinated either.
kc
@eemom:
@Suzanne:
Why don’t you two gals just sweep all the dishes off the table and go at it already …
seaboogie
@SoupCatcher: You need to be ready in the moment – but if you holler “Wow – that was a helluva FART!” you might clear some space for yourself….
BubbaDave
@Adam L Silverman: I keep looking for the Aruba buttons in elevators.
@seaboogie: I finally encountered the first two exceptions to my rule that Audi drivers are always d-bags last month. Up until then it was 100% accurate. I was almost unhappy when an Audi driver let me merge onto the highway because one of my guiding philosophies had just crumbled around my ears.
Anne Laurie
@KS in MA: I just turned 60, and I happily play the Little Old Lady card for all it’s worth. (Hell, I’ve been working on taking full advantage for yeeeears… )
Gotta be some recompense for the aching joints & other signs of physical decline!
Anne Laurie
@kc:
Oh, c’mon, man’s gotta have some outlet for his frustrations!
Anne Laurie
@efgoldman:
Spousal Unit’s a couple years older than I am. I prod him to ask about senior discounts, and his natural Virgonian frugality struggles mightily with his masculine vanity…
Which makes him look rather like Steve in the top pic. Or even more like Bert Lahr’s Cowardly Lion than he usually does!
Gretchen
A Mercedes always has the right of way. Or at least they think they do, and dare you to hit them if you disagree.
After 20 years of being an exclusively Volvo family (we’ve had 7, I think), we sold our last one two weeks ago because we were always having $1500 repair bills. I now have a new Subaru Impreza. The Volvo of the 2010’s?
eemom
@kc:
omg, is that patriarch-fantasy-catering-lesbian-catfighting-pron you’re advocating? Now you’ve done it….we’re NEVER gonna get out of here.
Keith G
One of the nice things about the becoming older myself is that I very seldom allow people to incite anger within me. Even when they are doing things that are obnoxious, my response is a choice and I choose not to physically complicate my life by going through the anger process.
In better news: Just a reminder that Jerry Seinfeld’s Comics Getting Coffee interview with Barack Obama has just been uploaded. It is a classic. One of the best (PR/fun) things Obama has done in his presidency.
Anne Laurie
@Keith G:
Or, in my case, I’m grateful that the little irritations just don’t instantly inspire a level of rage that requires a physical effort to tamp down.
People are still by and large incompetent idiots, but I don’t sweat them as much any more. It’s a real bonus!
Keith G
I read this post about an hour ago commented and then went on to do other things. However, something about this has been in the back of my mind. I guess what is bothering me is that folks are assuming they can correctly suss out the state of mind of the woman in the car. Maybe she was being truly an obnoxious pig. And yet, maybe she wasn’t. Airports are places of tremendous emotional fluctuations.
This woman would not be the first person to have been lost in an emotional fog and then when confronted by a stranger tried to act as if nothing was was wrong with a very curt, “I’m okay I’m okay.”
Among my least proud interactions with others have been when I have been more concerned with what was going on inside my own head and not being fully appreciative of the time, place, and conditions in which others were finding themselves.
Rashi
Wow. So it’s true that you can’t completely purge your inner Republican.
opiejeanne
@Keith G: That was my initial reaction, that she might have turned her head away like that so that he wouldn’t see her crying.
I’m 65, probably look 80, and half the time I feel like a little old lady, but most of the time I’m still a teenager, in my head at least.
Applejinx
Once John said it was a Mercedes driver, I was with him all the way.
When two Mercedes drivers meet
The trouble with hyper-wealthy privileged people in general is that, since they understand they are above the law and all manner of common decency, they increasingly choose to abuse that real aggressively. We might call it Shkrelification? It’s sort of ‘yeah I’m a monster, and I WIN’ thing going on.
I’m pretty done with that. Bring out the tumbrels ;)
Elizabelle
Don’t be too hard on yourself, JCole. She was oblivious and inconsiderate.
IMHO, exaggerated courtesy is sometimes the only way to handle this, but she had ignored several horn toots. That would get on the second driver’s nerves.
Maybe she was wrestling with emotions, even grief. Maybe she was killing time before heading out. That others needed to access the space she no longer was entitled to use seems not to have registered.
Maybe next time you don’t yell at the lady, or pop over to the car earlier to explain you are trapped, but this is over.
What would you have done if you noticed she was crying, or distressed? I’m sure you would have been lovely to her, or considerate. Don’t be hard on yourself.
tybee
@Suzanne:
ok. i laughed.
Pogonip
@SiubhanDuinne: Ta-Nehisi Coates built an entire book about the horror of someone moving his kid out of the way when the kid did this.
raven
60 ain’t old jerk off.
The Pale Scot
This, every time I’m on I-75 in the left lane moving faster than the right I can see some goober on cruise control catching up to a slow mover in the right. He/She runs right up the back of the slowpoke and then frantically cuts me off just so that they don’t have to tap the brake and disengage the cruz control. Then continues on their way at about 10 mph slower than me.
Fuckers can’t be bothered to see what’s going on in front of them, got forbid they look in their mirrors to see where other cars are.
Don’t feel bad John, we swim in a vast sea of morons.
debbie
@SiubhanDuinne:
Oh my God. Or they stand in the doorway of the elevator reading their fucking phone.
I so want to say something rude to them, but it is the workplace and I am far older then they.
RSA
Based on a Pew survey in the NYTimes:
John’s just thinking like a young person.
Satby
@opiejeanne:
This is so true of most of us. I’m sure I’m not the only person occasionally wondering who that strange old fart reflected back at me in a window is.
Mike
I hate to be contrary, but she was an older woman in a chaotic situation. If she runs “true to type”, she almost always defers to her husband in situations like this. She had a choice between sitting tight with her hazards on (an attempt at civility) or going white-knuckle into the airport traffic, probably with little hope of figuring out a place to pause before being sucked into whatever passes for an Airport Loop there.
If you’d simply explained that you needed a car length to let your sister out of the car…maybe mentioned that you were blocked in and couldnt back up…she would almost certainly have moved up for you.
Just my two cents.
henqiguai
@Mike (#98): Hmm; your ‘two cents’ don’t seem to include reading comprehension. You can’t ‘simply explain’ something to someone who has intentionally turned away so as to *not* engage in a civil manner. And as for her *potential* crisis of the moment, indulge them on her time or at least not while blocking a public way. Don’t know about you, but white guys with guns, badges, and the weight of the law tend to get real testy with me and mine if we even *think* about having a moment like that at an airport.
JimV
I’m giving you a free pass on that one. My rule is to try to think of a good reason why I might behave the same way (as the person who is doing something aggravating) before blaming them. Example: on field service trips to an unfamiliar city I would have to drive slowly to read the street signs and find where to turn. So if I do know where I’m going and somebody is driving more slowly than I ahead of me, I cut them some slack. But I can’t think of any good excuse for the lady, so it’s on her.
gogol's wife
@KS in MA:
Right, I can’t get over the idea that 60 is “old.”
Satby
She dropped off someone who had already checked his bags, refused to civilly engage when Cole tried to speak to her, and then only barely moved her car after she was informed she was blocking people’s access.
That isn’t a person having “a moment”, that’s a rude asshole, of whatever age. And as an “old person” of 60 myself, I think Cole did just fine.
Pogonip
I guess I am officially old because when I went i to Wendy’s a few weeks ago the clerk took one look at me and gave me the Senior Discount.
Svensker
OK, way late to the party here but:
a) 60 is not an “old woman.” Go fuck yourself, sonny.
b) You have gas stations at airports?
c) You call people from gas stations at airports?
This “old woman” is pissed off because Delta overbooked our flight and tried to bump me — they finally found some young shnook who got paid to let me have her seat. Then they didn’t bother to put my suitcase on the flight, since I was supposed to be a bumpee. Our New Year presents for the in-laws are, of course, in the damn suitcase. A sternly worded letter is in the works, you betcha. Also, too, grrrrrr.
kindness
Oh John. Don’t feel bad. You were actually kind to her. Most of us would have taken a piss on the hood of her car just to see the expression on her face.
Svensker
@Mike:
Are you fu**king kidding me? Defers to her husband? And older woman in a chaotic situation? Get the hell outta here.
vheidi
This. I asked (maybe not as politely as I could have) a young lady and her mother not to stop abruptly at the top of the subway stairs. YL: “You’re in a tourist area, deal with it.”
To my credit, I did not use the F-word.
A friend told me 30% (of New Yorkers?) have a holiday-related meltdown- I believe the number should be higher.
Happy New Year to all from a Lurker!
John Cole
@Svensker:
I have no idea how old she was. She had on a lot of makeup. She could have been anywhere from 60 to 80. I’m a terrible judge of age. I should have just said mature.
And no, I don’t think 60 is old. I’m 45, ffs. 60 is right around the corner.
Suzan
@Randy P:
I’ve been looking for a clip of the onion on his belt bit for years. Anyone know where to find it?
The only problem with swearing in a situation like that is then she gets to go away the victim and tells her friends “then this mad man comes up to my window and is screaming and swearing and all he had to do was ask me to move”.
Inyake
I deliver mail to my local airport and am dumbfounded on a regular basis by the behaviors of people at the departure/arrival area. Consistently oblivious to the concept that other people exist. It’s truly baffling.
Ol'Froth
Oh the stories I can tell about working the curb at Pittsburgh International! Part of my job for 8 years there was to keep the traffic moving so that situation didn’t happen. If you’re not loading or loading (and I mean ACTIVLY loading or unloading) we told you to move along. Now at the time (this was 15 years ago) PIT had the cheapest short-term parking of any major airport I know of, just 2 dollars an hour, and people would not use the lot, prefering to try and stay on the curb waiting for their party that wasn’t due to arrive for 45 minutes. We tell them to move, and get nasty looks and sworn at. Some people wouldn’t even try to move until we started writing the parking citation (too late to move now). When a guy in a Hummer asked me what he was supposed to do when I politely told him to move, I suggested making laps or parking in the lot. “YOU MEAN PAY????” Yeah asswipe, pay. Its two fucking dollars. I wrote a tag on an unattened car that was left on the curb for over an hour (this was pre- 9/11, that sort thing results in a tow truck coming now). 30 minutes after I wrote the tag, a couple comes out carrying McDonalds bags, complaining about the ticket, and trying to say they were only gone for 5 minutes. If you’ve ever been to PIT, the McDonalds is in the airside terminal, past the security checkpoint and you have to take an underground LTV to even get there. Best thing that happened to me was being promoted to Sergeant so I never had to deal with those damn curbs again.
gogol's wife
@John Cole:
The behavior you describe sounds more like 80, to be honest.
tamiasmin
Or (after politely asking her to move up a couple of feet): ”I’ve been mad at myself for days for not blasting the oblivious jerk.”
Or (again after politely asking): ”I’m pretty proud of myself for not losing it. Like I used to.”
Your choice.
By the way, what’s the deal with using hazard lights to say, ”Everything’s fine. I’m just doing something I know I shouldn’t be doing”? Why aren’t they called asshole lights?
Sparky
Being a relative newcomer (8 years) to Yinzerville, allow me to add one other consideration I’ve observed, as regards the original story. In the ‘burgh, NOBODY uses the horn in their car. The only person who hears the horn of any given vehicle is the mechanic who is performing the annual state inspection.
My point? In Pgh, there is no such thing as a “courtesy toot,” as there might be in other eastern seaboard cities. Using the horn is considered to be the agressive action of someone who is already out of control. And getting out of the car is something only a mass murderer would do.
Bottom Line: The benzer babe knew how she was pissing off the airport drivers, or was too out of touch to be out without supervision…or maybe just needed new batteries in the old invisible hearing aids.
‘[email protected]
chopper
@Suzanne:
well, if you see yourself acting similarly in the situation, why lecture cole about his reaction?
Steeplejack
@Suzan:
Abe Simpson, onion on the belt.
cat copeland
@John Cole:
John, the affluenza, entitled class. Whatcha gonna do. U did nothing wrong!
More Steve, Lilly & your other critters. The HELL with humans. Sick of ’em at times. Most of the time lately!!!!
Lisbet
What does the woman’s age have to do with it?
Does Hillary’s age matter to you?